Mobile computing devices continue to become commonplace in society. Portability has many positive aspects, but also has many negative aspects. Portable devices are preferably smaller in size, which limits the real estate for user interface features. Recent advances in portable computing devices utilize touch screen display panels in conjunction with graphical user interface (GUI) styled guides. The advantage of the GUI provides the designers the ability to design and utilize a variety of different styled layouts for control or entry of information into the mobile computing device. A drawback of the touch screen interface is the limited visible real estate. The display viewing area is of a fixed dimension and a portion of the viewing area must be dedicated for user interface. This can become a significant issue under certain conditions, such as when the user is playing a game and it would be advantageous to utilize the entire display area for viewing the game.
Protective cases are well known for use in conjunction with mobile computing devices. Protective cases are provided in a multitude of form factors and fabricated of a variety of materials. These can include plastic cases, metal cases, rubber cases, nylon cases, silicone cases, leather cases, faux leather cases, and the like. The designs can include cases having a unitary construction, a plurality of mechanically coupled components, fabricated of a single material, fabricated of multiple materials, and the like.
Generally, cases are limited to simply providing protection for the device. Some cases are enhanced with the inclusion of a portable power supply, such as an extra battery. Other cases, more specifically for tablet styled portable computing devices, include a standard keyboard. The keyboard is commonly battery powered and includes a Bluetooth wireless interface system, which provides wireless signal communication between the keyboard and the mobile computing device. The drawback is that the keyboards are generally large and moreso, fail to provide the desired controller arrangements for gaming.
What is desired is a device to provide additional user interface controllers to a mobile computing device.